In the next steps we are going to delete SLPs, Storage Units and Image references in the Catalog.

In case something goes wrong a catalog backup can come in handy.

2) Make sure no policies point directly or indirectly (through SLP) to the MSDP we are going to decommission.

This is to make sure no new backup images are being written to the MSDP (if it is still possible) while we are removing it in the next steps.

Furthermore it will make it possible to remove the SLPs pointing to the MSDP.

3) Make sure that the MSDP doesn't hold any images still under SLP control.

This is an important step missing in the technote.

Use nbstlutil to cancel SLP processing for any images that are being read from or written to the MSDP being decommissioned.

4) Carefully expire only the images from the catalog that pertain to the Disk Pool to be removed. (NetBackup administration console -> NetBackup Management -> Catalog, 'Action' dropdown set to 'Verify', change 'Disk type' dropdown to PureDisk, and 'Disk Pool' dropdown to the MSDP Disk Pool name in question, then change the start date to past date/time to accommodate the oldest images, then click 'Search Now'. Select all the images found, right-click and choose 'Expire'.) Afterwards, wait for the NetBackup 'Image Cleanup' jobs to complete.

15) Remove any cfg file referring to the MSDP server under /usr/openv/lib/ost-plugins (unix) or \Netbackup\bin\ost-plugins (windows).

This is not listed in the technote must be done on the MSDP server itself and on all other servers having the server referred to as additional server.

On the MSDP server also remove the cfg files for other MSDP servers. (These will be recreated when you add additional servers to your MSDP if you are going to recreate the MSDP).

Failure to do so will potentially lead to problems when trying to recreate the MSDP and when trying to add additional media servers for the storage server and to add the media server to the other storage servers. In other words note down all relations between storage servers and then remove all relations which include the MSDP we are decommissioning. Then recreate the relations if the MSDP is to be added later on.

16) Delete the deduplication storage directory (and db path, if it was specified at installation time)

The great majority of Tech Articles that come out of Support are based on actual field experience in cases we worked with customers.
I can update TECH150431 or we can create a new one just for 7.5 and above.

Question for you: Besides step 10 (Execute the PDDE_deleteConfig script to remove the MSDP configurations), what else would be different about pre-7.5 in your procedure?

I can't really remember and I find nothing in my notes regarding issues on 7.1.x.x which are not adressed in my procedure.

But I crosschecked my notes and realize I haven't tried to decommission a 7.0 MSDP. So i can't really say this is well tested on 7.0

Today - however - I came across a situation on a 7.5.0.5 where deletion of a diskpool was not possible because it still contained images. The images where not visible in the catalog, but they showed up in a "Images on Disk" GUI report.

This procedure could maybe added as a tip for step 4. There is without doubt other small catches - like this one - that I have run into and 'just solved' and therefore forgotten to write down.
But maybe you can add some of the common problems you see to the technote.

You can choose to create a special technote for 7.5 and up. That is fine with me.
Are you suggesting this because you think 7.1 is less restrictive regarding the order in which SLP, STU etc are deleted?